History Series / TheKidsInTheHall

->''"I've always considered ''The Kids in the Hall''[='=]s relation to its 'big brother' ''Saturday Night Live'' to be somewhat analogous to the U.S.'s relationship to [[CanadaEh Canada]]; ''SNL'' is bigger, flashier, and has more popularity (or at least more notoriety), while ''KITH'' is smarter, subtler, and much more consistent."''

* CanadaEh: While many sketches are set in Canada and there is material about its relationship to the United States as well as the show's home broadcaster, other sketches are outright set in the United States, and some aren't [[CanadaDoesNotExist explicitly set in either]] (In one sketch, Scott referred to himself as a "North American").

The [=KITH=] band ended their show in 1995, and afterward produced a feature film, ''Film/BrainCandy'', in 1996 to mixed reviews. After going their separate ways for several years, they regrouped to do several tours (and [[Recap/LiloAndStitchTheSeriesS1E14Fibber an episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', a show in which [=McDonald=] voiced one of its leads) throughout UsefulNotes/The2000s, and came together to produce a reunion miniseries, ''Series/DeathComesToTown'', premiering in 2010.

* TheMovie: ''Film/BrainCandy''

** "Kathie and the Blues Guy", from the first episode, introduces Bruce's Kathie and her blues-playing {{manchild}} boyfriend Mississippi Gary, who is played by Mark in mild blackface. Of course, the sketch steers clear of any actual race jokes.

* BookEnds: At the end of the original run, the Kids are buried alive by Paul Bellini, who [[AsideGlance looks at the camera]] and proclaims "Thank ''God'' that's finally over." Near the beginning of the revival season, the Kids are dug up and unearthed by Paul Bellini, who looks at the camera and proclaims "You asked for it."

* AerithAndBob: The vaudeville comedy duo of [=McGuillicutty=] and Green embodies this trope, with the former being a classic borscht belt-wise guy and the latter being a hapless square who doesn't seem to understand how comedy works despite doing it professionally.

* EvilPhone: Spoofed in one sketch. A guy refuses to answer the phone, reasoning it must be the wrong number. But as the phone keeps on ringing, it causes increasing hysteria in his friends. They convince themselves that something sinister about the call.

* AcquittedTooLate: A governor is calling a prison to order a stay of execution because of some new evidence, but he gets a wrong number. While the other man looks up the prison's phone number, the governor looks at the time and realizes it'd be too late now.

* AerithAndBob: The vaudeville comedy duo of [=McGuillicutty=] and Green embodies this trope, with the former being a classic borscht belt wise guy and the latter being a hapless square who doesn't seem to understand how comedy works despite doing it professionally.

* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: Resales of previously purchased videotapes and discs earn nothing for the studios who manufactured them, so ''Brain Candy'' couldn't have broke even on one yard sale purchase.

* BaitAndSwitch: "Reg",in which a group of friends gather around a fire to drink beer and share fond remembrances of their old friend Reg... [[spoiler: ... who as it turns out, they all killed.]]

* BloodyHilarious: "It's Nothing", in Season 5, when Kevin and Mark are on a date in a restaurant and a little trickle of blood starts coming out of Dave's left ear. He insists that it's nothing and it shouldn't spoil their evening, but then it starts to spurt, and within a couple of minutes his ear is ''fountaining'' blood all over the table, the walls and nearby diners, while he continues to insist that it's nothing even while he's complaining of being cold and becoming more and more woozy and disoriented. Climaxes when Dave actually dies from massive blood loss--and ''then'', we see his soul in the afterlife being urged to "Come into the light", but he says that if it's about his ear, it's nothing, it's stopped bleeding. "Fine," says the voice, "I'm not going to beg," and the light goes out, leaving Dave stranded in limbo.
** The "Shakespeare's Bust" scene in the 2022 series. Thad (Mark) is a massive Shakespeare fan who relates everything in his life to the works of the Bard, and has a bust of Shakespeare in his living room. He even wishes Shakespeare were alive so that he could be his friend. Then a bolt of lightning causes the bust (Dave) to come alive -- but because it's a bust, it starts squirting gallons of blood from its arm sockets and guts fall out of the bottom of it. Eventually Thad manages to bind its wounds with copies of Shakespeare's plays, but the bust turns into an aggressively obnoxious roommate that watches reality TV and tells Thad to fuck off.

-->'''Green''': No no, What is on -- oh, I see what your problem is! [''Cue OhCrap expression from [=McGuillicutty=]''] You're confused by their names, because they all sound like questions. [''smiles confidently'']

-->'''Green''': Well, I'll explain it to you. (''[=McGuillicutty=]'s head drops in shame'') On first base is Hu. Samuel Hu. You're probably not used to that name, 'cause his grandfather was Chinese. On second base is Hector Watt, W-A-T-T, Watt [''[=McGuillicutty=] does a {{Facepalm}}''], and that's not such an unusual name 'cause James Watt invented the steam engine. And on third base is Phil Iduno, I-D-U-N-O, Iduno, but if you say that fast, it does sound like the phrase "gee, I don' know". But it's actually Idunno, ''Phil'' Idunno.
* CastHerd: Despite the group only consisting of five members, the majority of the show's sketches, particularly early on, pair them off into the distinct duos of Kevin and Dave (generally in send-ups to or deconstructions of classical StraightManAndWiseGuy comedy routines) and Bruce and Mark (generally in higher-concept, more absurdist sketches), with Scott-centric sketches usually being solo monologues that often don't feature anyone else in them at all. This was an example of RealLifeWritesThePlot, as the aforementioned duos were comedy partners prior to the group's formation that had the most experience and comfort working with each other's styles while Scott was a late addition with a background in acting rather than comedy. Later seasons mix and match the five to a much greater degree, with Scott in particular playing a more active role in sketches outside of his monologues, but still favor this basic setup.

* ChekhovsGag: The "Old Yeller" sketch, in which the team re-enact the ending of ''Literature/OldYeller'', with Bruce as the mother preparing to shoot the rabid dog (represented by an ordinary, puzzled-looking dog with cream smeared on its jaws), only to be interrupted by Kevin tearfully volunteering to pull the trigger because it's his dog: he does so, and is showered with blood. Later in the episode they do it again, but this time, the dog is played by a man wearing earmuffs with shaving cream around his mouth, who Mark introduces as "Alvin Touchet, the baby born at Woodstock". Once again, Kevin volunteers to do the shooting, and once again he gets showered with gore. Finally, a totally different sketch in which Dave plays the horribly spoiled daughter of Scott and Mark, climaxes with Mark wondering what they can do about their daughter, and Scott says "Well, there's only one thing to do" and picks up the rifle from behind the sofa--whereupon Kevin comes in and tearfully volunteers to do it. Cue the ''Old Yeller'' music and Kevin shooting Dave, and getting covered in gore, whereupon Scott, Dave and Mark start dancing around the set and the special effects guy holding the gore sprayer gets up from behind the sofa and walks off.

** For as much as they claim to be "reporters" with the inside scoop on Hollywood, Weston Esterhazy and his friend Virgil are just a pair of celebrity-fixated oddballs who [[MrImagination make up whatever they want and repeat it as if it's guarded knowledge]]; among other things, Weston has claimed that Robert Vaughn died in the late 70's and a hand puppet was hosting ''Discover'' in his place, that Dick Sargent was turned into a fish for the ''{{Series/Bewitched}}'' finale but never got changed back, and that Pluto the dog went on a nymphomaniac spree after being "redrawn" for ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' before he finally settled down into a relationship with Benji. When Virgil realizes that the latter can't be true because Pluto isn't real, Weston shrugs and admits he's probably right.

* EvilPhone: Spoofed in one sketch. A guy refuses to answer the phone, reasoning it must be a wrong number. But as the phone keeps on ringing, it causes increasing hysteria in his friends. They convince themselves that something sinister about the call.

* FantasticDrug: Danny Husk's sweat becomes this, being so deliciously fragrant and happy-making that his company markets it as a cologne, Husk Musk. We see that when he's at work and has sweaty armpits, everyone is pleased to see him (one receptionist is actually masturbating at the mere sight of him) but eventually the company has to stop selling it, because nobody's doing anything: everyone in the world is just sitting around getting high on Husk Musk. Danny is philosophical about this, as he is about everything.

* FreudianSlipperySlope: One [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yG_GiW3Y94 skit]] has a businessman asking his shapely secretary to write a letter for him. He is unable to speak five words without mentioning breasts in some way, and eventually forms a sentence almost entirely out of words for breasts. And then he can't dictate a letter to his ''next'', similarly [[GagPenis well-endowed]] male secretary without mentioning penises.

* HeadCrushing: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the Mr. Tyzik sketches, wherein the titular character would make comments about people he sees on the street, and would then hold his hand up to his eye to make it look like the person's head was between his fingers. He would then press his thumb and index finger together to mime the act of crushing their head, while saying that he was "crushing your head".
* HiredForTheirLooks: A sketch had Dave as a business man unable to fire a French pyromaniac named Monique because she's beautiful, ''even as she's igniting things in his office''.

* HumanPet: Played for laughs. In the season 1 sketch "Can I Keep Him?", Bruce played a small boy who finds a businessman, Mr. Stevenson (Kevin), and brings him back to his house, asking his mom (Scott) if they can keep him. Scott eventually gives in, and Bruce and Mr Stevenson have a good time until Mr Stevenson falls ill. Scott explains that he's fallen ill because as long as he lives with them, he has no chance of being promoted, so Bruce lets Mr. Stevenson go back and join the other businessmen.

* ImagineSpot: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hZ56mHlKB0 The "Disgruntled Customer" sketch]] features Dave as a waiter who has no lines, but stands on the other side of the room sniggering at the aforementioned customer. We see, through the magic of editing, that he's imagining the annoying customer wearing various ridiculous costumes, such as a French-maid outfit or a high school marching-band uniform.
** "Billy Dreamer" features Billy encountering setbacks and daydreaming improvements to his life, none of which involve his setbacks.

* JailBake: A skit made use of this trope, and adds dramatic tension with the guard asking if he can have a piece of cake, while the prisoner's friend sweats, hoping the guard's knife doesn't touch the saw inside. Of course the tension is then [[OverlyLongGag taken to ridiculous heights]] with the guard eating most of the cake without finding the saw, leaving an obvious saw-shaped piece of the middle of the cake. The guard looks full and is about to give the cake to the prisoner, but then he decides to have one more piece... * clink* [[spoiler: And then the kicker: the prisoner was getting out later that day and just wanted to make sure he wouldn't be late for an appointment, so he gets released while his friend gets locked up.]]

* LanguageFluencyDenial: A second season sketch has Scott trying to get directions from Dave, who tells him in increasingly convoluted sentences (in English) that he can't help him since unfortunately he doesn't speak a word of English.

* {{Minimalism}}: "Waiting Room" was a sketch with basically only three lines. Mark is in a doctor's waiting room with a bunch of other people, including Scott. Periodically, someone gets called in (one of the lines in the sketch is just variants on calling people's names) and Scott gets up, but it's never him. In order to amuse himself, Scott whistles to catch Mark's attention, then glances at other people in the room, and mimics some physical trait of theirs for a laugh. Mark initially finds this amusing, but as Scott goes on he starts to hide behind his newspaper because Scott's behaviour is getting more and more obtrusive. Finally, when Mark is called, Scott goes up too, as he always does, but Mark says to him, exasperated, "God, man! Do you...?!" and goes in. Scott then mimics Mark's line, to the great amusement of the other people in the room.

* MistakenForProfound: Mark, Bruce, and Dave are sitting on a roof passing around a bottle of booze. Mark and Bruce take turns saying some things about the moon, Mark says something about romance, and Bruce says something like an angry beatnik poem. But when it's Dave's turn, he doesn't know what to say and just blurts out, "Gee, I wonder who owns that moon!" then hangs his head and passes back the bottle. Bruce and Mark act as though it's deep. Dave just shrugs and the skit ends.
* ModestyTowel: Writing staffer Paul Bellini often appeared in one as a RunningGag. Taken even further in the 2022 season when he's in a bath house and takes off his towel to reveal... another towel.

** “Naked for Jesus” runs on this trope and nothing else.

* NoExceptYes: In "The Baby" from the 2022 revival, one couple (Dave and Kevin) try to avoid being made guardian's of another couple's (Mark and Bruce) baby by claiming to be methheads.

** In the season 1 sketch "Are Extraterrestrials Dull?", Dave played a TV presenter who starts out sitting in a chair talking to camera, then gets up and walk across the studio, still talking... until he gets to ''another'' chair, which he sits down in. They repeat this several times until eventually Dave runs out of chairs, forcing him to pick up his chair and take it with him while he walks.

* SignedWithAKiss: The segment "Love and Sausages" shows a factory worker in a dystopian sausage factory falling in love with a woman whose job it is to kiss each cardboard box as it leaves the factory while wearing lipstick.

* TheTopicOfCancer: An early sketch had Dave announcing that while the team was writing the sketches for that season, they've managed to discover what causes cancer. He brings on Bruce, who rather shamefacedly apologises to everyone for "causing all of that cancer". He says he did it because he "didn't realize it was such a horrifying disease" and he was "just on a roll".

** Scott actually enters this at the end of "Scott's Not Gay": having told everyone that he's not gay anymore (and seemingly confirmed this when a women in a towel comes out of his shower and kisses him warmly on the lips), at the end of the sketch he's contemplating his new, straight existence... while getting a blowjob from another guy.

** Dave Foley: "[[UnluckyEverydude The Priss]]". Plays TheEveryman or parodies thereof, often coming across as a hapless ComicallySerious {{Cloudcuckoolander}} in the process. On the occasions when a more restrained StraightMan is needed, he generally takes up the position. His women tend to be glamorous and desirable, and often have foreign accents.
** Bruce [=McCulloch=]: "[[TheNapoleon The Tiny Bully]]". Plays eccentric young boys and [[ManChild Manchildren]] with nerdy demeanors, irritable suburbanites with chips on their shoulders, or pathetic wannabe tough guys. His women tend to be doe-eyed and perky, and are often defined by being wives or mothers.
** Kevin [=McDonald=]: "[[ButtMonkey The Clown]]". Plays high-strung oddball type characters who instigate or react to the various absurd misfortunes they find themselves in in a horrified and expressive manner. On the occasions when a more frazzled StraightMan is needed, he generally takes up the position. His women are mostly identical in character to his men, to the point where the other Kids have mocked them for essentially being "Kevin in a wig", and are often the long-suffering friend or significant other of the main focus of a sketch.

* VomitingCop: Parodied in one sketch, as the cop vomits over not only a dead body, but mundane things at the same scene like an expired parking meter.

* HalfWittedHillbilly: The season five sketch "Penny" focuses on three of them, all brothers. When one gets kicked in the head by a cow while reaching for a penny on the ground, the other two take it upon themselves to look after him, but when his head trauma leaves him in worse shape than initially thought, they get the [[SarcasmMode absolutely genius idea]] to have the cow kick him in the head again, thinking it would cure his condition because it "always seemed to work on ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones''". [[RealityEnsues The blow ends up killing him.]]

* HalfWittedHilbilly: The season five sketch "Penny" focuses on three of them, all brothers. When one gets kicked in the head by a cow while reaching for a penny on the ground, the other two take it upon themselves to look after him, but when his head trauma leaves him in worse shape than initially thought, they get the [[SarcasmMode absolutely genius idea]] to have the cow kick him in the head again, thinking it would cure his condition because it "always seemed to work on ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones''". [[RealityEnsues The blow ends up killing him.]]